


psamanthe

by salamanderIntrospectionist (melxncholyman)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, F/F, Humanstuck, I have no idea where this will go but we'll see, Multi, but not the seatrolls they're still sea people, mermaid au, my first work on ao3 of course it had to be lesbians, rated teen for a little bit of swearing and also politics later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25880809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melxncholyman/pseuds/salamanderIntrospectionist
Summary: This is why we shouldn’t have come to the beach, Nepeta thought dizzily before her vision faded to black.
Relationships: Eridan Ampora & Feferi Peixes, Nepeta Leijon & Equius Zahhak, Nepeta Leijon/Feferi Peixes
Comments: 15
Kudos: 10





	1. the beach/the beginning

_**Psamanthe** (Ancient Greek: Ψάμαθη, from ψάμαθος "sand of the sea-shore") a Nereid in Greek Mythology; the goddess of sandy beaches._

***

"Argh! Why are we doing this?"

Shrieking seagulls circled underneath the blazing sun, scouting for ice cream and hot Cheetos. The tangy, salty air of the sea wafted into the open windows of a BMW, where sat a very disgruntled Nepeta Leijon.

"You know just as well as I do, Nepeta," replied her companion. "It is almost summer’s end, and you have barely gone out at all. As your friend, it is my duty to ensure that you maintain physically active and healthy."

Nepeta blew a raspberry at said friend.

"Purr-shaw, Equius! Last time I checked, you like the beach as much as I do! Why couldn’t we at least go to a big forest or something?"

Equius frowned behind his cracked shades. "Your demand is prepaw- preposterous. We’ve already talked about this before, there are no forests around here, and it would take too long for us to drive to even the closest one. Besides, you were the one urging me to ‘loosen up’ and 'have some fun’."

The other one rolled her eyes. "Whatev-fur," Nepeta grumbled. "I’m gonna find a shady place as far from the water as possible." She threw open the car door, leapt out of her seat, and pounced across the parking lot.

"Look, Nepe- Hey! Come back here and put on your sunscreen this instant!"

***

After half an hour of unfolding towels (Equius), futile squirming (Nepeta) and bitching about the sand (both), the two of them finally settled down. They revelled in the peaceful, almost drowsy silence that reigned in their little spot of cool shade. The smaller of the two, half sprawled on her friend's legs, hummed to herself as she doodled in her sketchbook, while her friend started to read one of his _paw_ fully pretentious books.

A moment passed; Equius cleared his throat. He glanced at the sea, then down at his sweating torso. 

"Nepeta," he started. 

"Mmmrrhm?"

"I'm afraid that our towels may be... insufficient for my current condition. Would you mind if I leave you for a moment to take a swim?"

Nepeta giggled. "Of course not!" she swatted his bicep playfully. "Go rinse that sweaty body and when you're back, I'll show you my drawings!"

"Very well," Equius nodded. "I won't be gone for too long."

As he left, Nepeta continued to scribble with her coloured pencils. After a while, she put the pencils down, carefully and slowly tore the piece of paper from her sketchbook and held it out in front of her to admire it.

"The mighty huntress _purr_ owls the woods, accompanied by her trusty partner, the **STRONG** archer!" she narrated.

"Together, they advance forwards discreetly. All of a sudden, the huntress turns her head around in the direction of a rustling noise. She gestures to her companion to stay silent, then slowly creeps towards the large bush where the sound was heard, her nose twitching eagerly. She readies her footing, bends her knees, and-" _Whoosh!_

An unexpected gust of wind blew by, tearing the piece of paper from Nepeta's hands. She stared dumbfoundedly for a few seconds before fully registering what just happened. 

"Wha- Nooo! My drawings!" The young girl got up and frantically scrambled after it, desperately trying to grasp the paper which flew out of her reach every time by a twist of the breeze. 

Nepeta chased the wind until the shore, where she felt the waves lap at her toes. Ack, wet, salty water! But now was not the time to be worrying about getting wet. Her precious artwork was at stake! The wind had stopped, and the page was almost right above her now, she only had to take a few more steps- the seawater sloshed to her ankle, her knees, her waist, then as Nepeta took a final step forward, the seabed beneath her swiftly descended into a steep slope, causing her to lose her balance and fall into the water. 

“Gasfjhwsshr,” She gurgled, flailing helplessly. Fuck. Fuck, she couldn’t swim. The current swept her down and away from the beach. Panicked, she thrashed her limbs and opened her mouth to scream, only to choke immediately. _Oh my god. Why would you do that, Nepeta?!_ She yelled at herself internally, as she felt her lungs empty out gradually. 

_This is why we shouldn’t have come to the beach_ , Nepeta thought dizzily before her vision faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok guys!! i wont promise a regular update schedule, but dont worry. i have a lack of time, not ideas. feel free to point out errors/give me constructive criticism, and even the shortest comments make my day so if you have time to type anything please do!
> 
> y'all are the most ironically cool people for reading homestuck fanfiction in 2020 <33


	2. i can't swim, don't rub it in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Equius is distressed, Feferi is in a hurry, and Eridan is annoyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCK i just realized that this fic is eerily similar to that one erisol fic that has a lot of kudos. please don't sue me for plagiarism ;-;  
> Chapter title is from _Juarez_ by Gerard Way.

Equius was moist. At least, he was before he went into the water. Now he was just wet. He floated about in the sea, not really standing still but not swimming either. Even though his shades were still on, he still tried not to stare at the plebian (attractive, his mind traitorously supplied) girl who was laughing with her wheelchair-bound friend under a parasol. A slight breeze blew by, tousling strands of his damp hair. Equius twisted his head a bit, and closed his eyes to enjoy the coolness.

_Splat!_ Something flat and crisp hit his face. What? Equius opened his eyes again. His vision was obscured by the thing on his face; reaching up, his hand found a wrinkled piece of paper. Holding the sheet up to his eye just like Nepeta did not too long ago, he inspected the scribblings on the paper.

This is clearly Nepeta’s handiwork, he thought to himself. But how on earth did it fly all the way here? He wondered. Perhaps it was one of Nepeta’s silly shenanigans. Equius glanced back at the beach, then froze. Their shared towel… was vacant! Alarmed, he stared back at his friend’s drawing, thoughts racing. Nepeta would never leave her sketchbook without her if she went somewhere, and if she tore this page out it was clearly to take it to show to him… Equius gasped. He hurriedly trudged back to the shore, where he cried out shakily.

_“Nepeta!”_

***

A prince sat in his chambers, where he was polishing his rifle. Every now and then he would glance into the mirror in front of him and carefully smooth some strands of dark hair away from his brow.

“Eridan!” With a clang, the doors behind him burst open. The prince jumped.

“What the fuck?” He exclaimed, whirling around to glare at the intruder, only slightly relaxing when he saw who it was. “Jegus Christ, Fef, you could’ve knocked! 

Feferi wordlessly rushed to Eridan’s bed, then carefully laid down the unconscious figure she was carrying on the prince’s bed. Her hand gripped the bedframe tightly as she turned around and declared: 

“Eridan, I need your help.”

***

“So what you’re sayin is… you found this human while it was drowning and decided to save it? And you want me to look after it until it wakes up?”

The princess nibbled on her lip, looking apologetic.

“Look, I’m sure she’ll wake up soon! You know how my mother is, she would cull a human on sight!” Feferi tried to explain. “Besides, your chambers are one of the only ones underwater that are actually dry.” She finished, gazing at her friend with large, pleading eyes.

Eridan took a second to process all this. A human found in their territory was an extremely rare and dangerous thing. The gentler merpeople would carry them to the shallower waters for them to float back to the shore, but most of them would kill any human, unconscious or not, that had somehow found themselves in Her Imperial Condescension’s seas. Then why the glubbing hell did Feferi bring this human to the royal palace? Did she want to get into trouble?

As he opened his mouth to retort, Eridan was interrupted by the resounding note of a conch hailing from the core of the palace. He turned to look at Feferi, who immediately jumped up and exclaimed: “Oh, shit! The meeting with the royal council and my mom! I’m so glubbing sorry, Eridan, but I have to go!” She grabbed both of his hands, told her friend: “I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” and swam away as quickly as she had come. 

The prince stared at the door, then at his hands, and sighed. _When could you ever refuse her?_ He thought to himself. Eridan then approached the inert human currently occupying his bed and stared down at it. Like Feferi, he had never seen a human before, had only heard of them from the boasting tales of their older peers. It seemed like a girl, he supposed, one of their age or even younger. Eridan leaned in a bit and grasped the human girl’s wrist, only putting it down when he had felt her pulse beat softly in a regular rhythm. With another sigh, he settled his chair in front of his bed, grabbed his rifle, and continued polishing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyyy we're getting into the plot now! what will eridan do once nepeta wakes up? hehe you shall see in the next chapter >;]  
> fish puns are surprisingly harder to incorporate into speech than i thought
> 
> remember to leave kudos and comments, i love y'all! <33


	3. the coast of high alternia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how nepeta returns to the surface

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i'm back after, what, almost two months? 
> 
> to the four people who are actually subscribed to this fic: I hope you're doing well, ily all <3

“There were two mighty ships  
From old Beforus came  
_Blow high, blow low  
And so sail we!_  
One was Her Royal Condensce  
The other The Orphaner  
_All a-cruisin’ down the coast  
Of High Alternia!” _

Nepeta opened her eyes. Everything was fuzzy and blurry. She blinked a few times, feeling the softness of a mattress beneath her. Leaning against her elbows to sit up, she looked around and recognized her surroundings as a lavishly furbished bedroom. A tall and slender figure was standing in front of the window, humming a rhythmic tune and holding a- wait, is that a fucking rifle? Any normal person would be alarmed by the sight of a stranger holding a gun, but Nepeta, like the bravely curious girl she was, half-consciously blurted out: 

“What are you singing?”

The other person whirled around, eyebrows raised in surprise then scrunching down to glare at her behind shiny hipster glasses. 

“What the- oh. You’re finally awake, I see.” He was a boy, with a streak of purple in his slicked-back dark hair, wearing multiple shiny golden rings and currently eyeing her rather disdainfully.

 _Finally!? What does he mean?_ Nepeta opened her mouth to question, then caught sight of the aqua blue and the fish outside the window. She turned back to the boy and noticed his greyish skin and the faint violet gills in the place where his ears should have been. Astonished, the girl closed her mouth, opened it, closed it again, before whispering, her eyes wide: “Am I- am I underwater?” She continued to gawk at her interlocutor, disbelieving. “Are you a mermaid?”

The boy clicked his tongue in contempt. “Mer _maid_? Do I look like a girl to you?” He rolled his eyes. “Ugh, are all land-dwellers this mannerless or did nobody teach you to that it’s rude to stare! And yes, you’re underwater. Though you should’ve figured that out when you drowned.”

 _Drowned?_ Nepeta blinked in confusion, then suddenly all came back to her. The drawing blown away by the wind, chasing after it, then tripping and stumbling into the water… This couldn’t be true. She had drowned and was miraculously saved by actual merpeople? Nepeta looked up.

“Wow… I really can’t believe this.”

“Hmph. You’re a lucky one, you know? You’d probably be dead if it was someone else than the princess that had found you.”

Holy shit. Saved by a princess? Who was also a mermaid? Who knew that a near-death experience was what Nepeta needed to meet the girl of her dreams! Well, she yet needed to meet this princess. 

“Where is the princess? Can I see her? I should thank her for saving my life!”

A troubled look flashed across the merboy's face and he glanced outside the window, but immediately he smoothed his expression back to one of annoyance.

“Oh, no. You have to go now. Land-dwellers aren’t supposed to know about us.” He sighed. “You’re the only exception, I suppose… But don’t you dare tell anyone about any of this.” He finished, menacingly glowering at Nepeta.

Nepeta knew the weight of secrets well. She nodded reluctantly, both unwilling to leave and to keep this incident undisclosed. In the meantime, her involuntary host started rummaging in a nearby drawer (inlaid entirely with glimmering pearl shards, and definitely cost more than Nepeta’s apartment), mumbling under his breath until he emerged, at last, clutching a small wad of strangely purple seaweed. He tended it towards her.

“Here, eat this. Chew it, then blow a bubble as if it was gum.” Intrigued, Nepeta followed his instructions. She chewed the seaweed, flattening it against the back of her front teeth with her tongue, then began to blow. The seaweed-gum bubble grew and grew, until Nepeta no longer had to blow, as it expanded by itself, gradually fitting over her head like a fishbowl. 

“Woah,” Nepeta stared in awe at her little bubble, then at the sea-dwelling boy. 

“Yeah, yeah, we have a lot of stuff that is much superior to your shabby land-dweller ones, get over it.” He gestured towards the door. “Now, you just have to go northwest until you reach the big coral hill then north to get back to the beach where you came from.”

The human girl looked down, awkwardly shuffling her feet. “I… sort of can’t swim, you know.” 

“Oh, great. Of fucking course,” The other huffed. In a few long strides, he reached the entrance of his bedchamber; hastily he draped a violet cape over his shoulder, then with a swipe he pushed the doors open.

“Come on,” he said, “I don’t have any time to lose,” and wiggled his outstretched arm in Nepeta’s direction, who clutched onto it immediately as tightly as possible.

With a powerful push of his legs, the boy took off, swimming upwards, half-dragging, half-leading the girl in the water. His sea dweller body was perfectly suited for this: the teen’s limbs moved gracefully as he glided effortlessly through the sea. Nepeta, however, could only helplessly hold on for dear life. 

*** 

“Hey, um… Do all merpeople live in palaces?”

“What? Of course not. I’m a prince. But all sea-dwellers still live better than most of you humans.” 

“Wow, you’re a prince? Does this mean you’re related to the princess who saved me?”

“No, we’re not related. We’ve known each other since birth though, and I suppose we’re close enough to be… brother and sister.”

“Why don’t you guys want humans knowing about your existence? If you’re clearly more powerful and advanced than us.”

“You ask one more question, and I’m dropping you to the bottom of the sea.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…Look. It’s not that simple. A long, long time ago, we were still considered humans and lived on land. We just had a slight mutation, that’s all. But one day, the whole population decided to get rid of us. As you can see, it obviously didn’t work, but the humans didn’t know that. So we’ve adapted to living in the ocean. And now our Empress, Her Imperious Condescension, she’s p- I- No. No, never mind. You, uh, you won’t be involved anyway.” 

***  
Soon, the coast could be seen, getting closer and closer, as the two teens steadily approached the surface. Nepeta, upon viewing the outline of land, gripped her companion’s sleeve excitedly. In another few strokes, the prince reached a rocky reef hidden from the beach, yet still close enough that Nepeta could find her way back. He shrugged the girl off.

“You’re here,” he told Nepeta. “Now you can go back to the other humans.”

“Wait! I- I’m called Nepeta Leijon,” The girl almost reached out to touch the other’s arm, but stopped herself at the last moment. “You haven’t told me your name yet…” She trailed off, noticing him looking at her, an indescribable gaze in his eyes. “Please?”

The sea-dweller stared fixedly at her some more, seemingly calculating in his head. Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke.

“…My name is Eridan. Eridan Ampora. And for the princess who saved you… her name is Feferi.” At that, he shifted, sinking back into the ocean, before turning back one last time. 

“Good luck and goodbye, Nepeta Leijon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song that Eridan sings at the beginning is a slightly altered version of the sea shanty High Barbary.

**Author's Note:**

> ok guys!! i wont promise a regular update schedule, but dont worry. i have a lack of time, not ideas. feel free to point out errors/give me constructive criticism, and even the shortest comments make my day so if you have time to type anything please do! 
> 
> y'all are the most ironically cool people for reading homestuck fanfiction in 2020 <33


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